What if Ty Cobb and Shoeless Joe Jackson had stood side by side in Cleveland’s outfield? What if integration had taken place in the major leagues before 1947? Who would have won the World Series had a strike not shortened the 1994 season? In this compilation of fantasy scenarios, the history of baseball from 1869 to the controversial 2003 playoffs is literally rewritten by fifty journalists, historians, authors and former baseball players. Topics include playing for pay, Merkle’s Boner, rival leagues, the 1919 Series, Mickey Owens and the dropped strike, and integration. Chronologically organized, the experts take up the major events of each era and speculate on the long-and short-term outcomes had history followed a different, but still likely, course. The book concludes with an appendix in which the panel members hold forth on general-interest topics such as star-crossed players who might have gone on to Hall of Fame careers, the greatest big-game players, and World Series pairings.
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A panel of baseball experts including historians, journalists, former players, and broadcasters discusses some of the game's larger "what-if" questions. What if the game had been integrated prior to Jackie Robinson in 1947? What if Shoeless Joe Jackson hadn't been banned for life after the 1919 Black Sox betting scandal? Ted William's Hall of Fame career was interrupted by World War II and the Korean War. Give him back those five years and maybe he'd have been the first to pass Babe Ruth, not Hank Aaron. Would the Cubs have collapsed in 1969 if manager Leo Durocher had utilized his bench? Did injuries keep any players out of the Hall of Fame? Baseball guru Bill James feels Hal McRae--who had a very solid major league career--may have made it except for an ankle injury incurred in the minors, which robbed him of his speed. And what might have happened if pitcher Sandy Koufax hadn't been forced to retire due to arm problems. What if he would have undergone the revolutionary but then-experimental Tommy John surgery? This is like a great conversation in a sports bar except, at this literary watering hole, the participants know what they're talking about. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
About the Author
Broadcast journalist Jim Bresnahan is also the author of Revisioning the Civil War (2006). He lives in Lexington, Virginia.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What If?,
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This review is from: Play It Again: Baseball Experts on What Might Have Been (Paperback)
Fascinating look back at many of baseball's historical decisions and controversial plays. A panel of experts including journalists, statisticians and former players discuss the various events. Included are such things as the realignment of the leagues due to expansion, players whose careers were interupted by injury and military service, home run hitters, the designated hitter and many plays that had far reaching ramifications. Fun and informative read.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Have you ever wondered....what if the ball bounced the other way?,
By David Reya "dave" (Bethpage, NY USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Play It Again: Baseball Experts on What Might Have Been (Paperback)
This book captures that feeling every fan has had at one time or another..."if only...". This book is ideal for all generations because it touches on every aspect of the game in every era. It's a fun, easy read and ideal for a lazy Sunday or a quick baseball fix in case of a "rain out". I won't go into details about the book, the synopses does a fine job of that, however, the Sandy Koufax "fantasy" section is by far the best part of the book. It's fictional account of Sandy's extended career which left me yearning for it to be true. I only wished the rest of the book was written in the same way. All in all, great fun!
3.0 out of 5 stars
Could have been done better,
By WDX2BB (New York State) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Play It Again: Baseball Experts on What Might Have Been (Paperback)
"Play It Again" has a singular distinction: It has to be one of the most overpriced baseball books on the market.The book checks in at 248 pages and is a trade paperback edition. That usually means the book should go for somewhere in the neighborhood of $15, maybe a little more since it probably wasn't a big press run. Actual suggested retail price, as they say on "The Price Is Right": $29.95. Ouch. As you might have guessed, the book won't be worth it to most, although it does have some merit. Jim Bresnahan has come up with an interesting concept -- a counterfactual baseball book. The technique is often used in history, but is rarely seen in sports in this form. Authors speculate what could have happened in Gettysburg, but it's left to talk show to discuss the Cubs in 2003. Bresnahan collected a group of people to comment on potential tipping points in baseball history. What would have happened if the 1919 White Sox had played the World Series for real? What if Pete Reiser and Herb Score hadn't been hurt early in their careers? What if the designated hitter had come to baseball earlier, or not at all? What if baseball had integrated earlier? All good questions, and there are plenty more here. The editor collected a panel of experts to answer them. Some are baseball experts who cover a wide variety of areas of expertise. Also invited to join the discussion are ex-big league players such as Brooks Robinson, Bill Lee and Dick Groat. The players are generally used for specific cases (Robinson on the Orioles not acquiring Frank Robinson from the Reds, for example). The quality of answers is rather erratic. Some people picked up the concept instantly, and write at length and with smarts about what could have happened in a particular situation. I particularly liked Jeff Katz's answer about Sandy Koufax getting Tommy John surgery on his elbow after the 1966 season, and dramatically extending his career through the 1977 World Series. Players sometimes had interesting things to say, too. Jim Northrop was there when Curt Flood slipped on a fly ball in the seventh game of the 1968 World Series, and Northrop says Flood couldn't have gotten to the ball under any circumstances. On the other hand, sometimes three or four experts give essentially the same answer, which doesn't make for fascinating reading. Sometimes the guest writers use phrases such as "We'll never know what might have happened..." Of course we don't -- that's the point of the book. For those in a nit-picking mood, the summaries of the conclusions of each chapter/era seemed rather pointless. And it was a surprise to see the page headings on one chapter read "4. Careers Lost, Teams Lost: 1962-1959." It should have read 1942; some editor must have done a severe shutter upon spotting that. "Play It Again" has some lessons to teach about baseball history, but not enough to justify the purchase price -- especially at these prices.
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